Page 32 of Strangers She Knows

“Scary.”

“Yes.”

“But that’s in Cape Charade, and we’re safe on Isla Paraíso, so right now, let’s say your lady was a dream, too.”

“She wasn’t!” Rae was all rigid indignation.

“Shh. You’ll wake your daddy.”

Rae subsided.

“Tomorrow we’ll look around your room and see if we can figure out where the lady came from.”

“Ruby said there were secret passages, and we found one!”

“That’s right.”Which is probably why you dreamed about them.“Tomorrow we’ll find out if one of them opens into your room. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“No matter what we find, we’re going to move you to the bedroom right across the hall. You need to be close to your daddy and me.”

“Yes, please.” In a very small voice, Rae asked, “Do you think Grandma is okay?”

Until Kellen came into their lives, Verona had been Rae’s primary maternal influence. They had had time apart, of course, but not like this; not where Rae couldn’t speak with her every day.

“I’m sure she is. She’s going to Italy with Aunt Irene and Cousin Annabella, and you know how much she enjoys visiting the relatives.”

“She’ll be safe there?”

So no matter how hard Max and Kellen had tried to keep the truth from Rae, she had caught the echoes of their fears. “Your grandma describes your relatives in Northern Italy as tough, smart, mean, suspicious and with the kindest hearts…once they know you. She absolutely will be safe there.”

“Okay.”

“Can we go to sleep now?”

“Okay.”

Kellen held Rae until the child went limp in slumber, then slowly she pulled her arm out from under Rae’s neck and massaged her numb hand.

Max scooted up behind her. “Is your arm asleep?” He sounded alert. So he’d heard the whole thing.

“Rae’s not a lightweight anymore. She’s getting to be a young woman, and Max, she knows there’s something wrong.”

“I know.”

Kellen rolled tightly against him. “I think we should tell her the whole truth.”

“I don’t think it would help. Here she can run around and still be safe. I don’t want her to be afraid.”

“She’s already afraid. She heard about the murder at the mortuary.”

“I understand that, but what good would it do to tell her about Mara? Kellen.” Max wrapped his arm around her. “She worries about you. If we tell her what Mara said—”

“Yeah. Right. It would blow all her circuits.” Which was true. “But I still feel guilty for not bringing Rae into the operation.” Which was also true.

“You have to stop thinking of Rae as a soldier. She’s not. She’s a child.”

Kellen remembered the children she had seen in Afghanistan, holding rifles, fighting in wars so old their distant great-grandparents had started them. She didn’t want that for Rae. “Right. You’re right. But Max, no matter how much we try to protect Rae, this disruption to her routine has really sent her into a tailspin.”

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